Soul Calibur II Review (Xbox)

Todd McFarlane sits back and lets the money roll in.

Another worthy fighting game has finally been added to the Xbox pantheon. Many would argue that none of them up till now have really lived up to the Xbox launch title Dead or Alive 3. While that game still remains a graphical benchmark for Microsoft’s console, it is considered to be a somewhat shallow experience and perhaps too easy. Naturally, as a dedicated Boomtown reader you have already had a look at our insightful PS2 and GameCube reviews, so if you humour me, I will send you to look at those reviews if you want specific details of the gameplay mechanics.

The problem with fighting games on a console is that they can often lack enough staying power to consider them a worthwhile purchase. You are generally offered a handful of one player game modes and an exhibition mode for playing against your friends. I wonder if it’s ever going to be fully possible for a fighting game on the console to faithfully recreate the experience of playing one in an arcade.

Oh those pesky youngsters!

Picture the scene…you are surrounded by arcade machines, each blaring out their own cheesy music. Perspiration glistening on your brow, you have spent the annual gross national debt of a small country on getting to the second to last stage of your favourite fighting game. There is a chink and a jingle as a small ten-year-old child smugly wanders over and pushes a coin into the slot. 'NEW CHALLENGER!' bellows the machine. A flinty gaze passes between you. You are ready for anything…

One of the better environments in the game.

Except for the possibility that this small child is going to beat the seven living shades of crap out of you in a way that you had never imagined possible. You were so invested in the game that you can’t believe what has happened!

It’s for precisely this reason that I feel that fighting games will never truly live comfortably on a home console. How can you be fully involved in a game that you can simply alter the number of credits available on the option screen? (You could always decide not to alter them? – ed.)

So what's the story?

Soul Calibur features some brilliant characters and animation.

Certainly something needs to be added to give more life than the standard Arcade mode, that has you battling through a succession of increasingly difficult foes in order to confront a final boss encounter. And then that’s it. Literally 'Game Over' and you’re left to start again.

To compensate for this, Soulcalibur II has included a story mode, called Weapon Master that has you working your way through various challenges to proceed to a final goal. This does work to a large degree and definitely adds more replay value to a genre of game that normally wears thin quite quickly and is perhaps the game’s biggest selling point.

Of course, no fighting game worth its salt would be complete without a decent multiplayer option and here Soulcalibur II really shines. It’s hilarious fun (even for the complete novice) to pit yourself against your friends and it would be firmly in your interests to invite all your friends round as soon as you get this game. It’s also a fantastic way to practice mastering all the protagonists.

I like the look of your jib.

Who is that masked man?

Graphically the game also comes off looking quite good. The characters are large and detailed and they sport excellent animation. As is the par for games of this type, all the female fighters are definitely well endowed, although I don’t think we will see them in a spin-off volleyball game any time soon. The environments themselves are not up to the standards set by other games and seem if not actually drab and boring, then certainly not as interactive as I’d like to see.

All the fighting sounds are great and they fit in perfectly with what you would have come to expect from a decent fighter. The music too is spot on, providing a wonderful atmosphere for you to inflict some pain on your opposition. Each console version of the game gives you a unique extra character and on the Xbox it is Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. How big a draw this is will be largely dependent on if you know who Spawn is already. Although it’s interesting to see the Xbox’s choice was taken from the world of comics and not the world of video games.

I can recommend Soulcalibur II without hesitation if you are a fighting game fanatic. It has everything you want and more. Whether you should give it a chance if you aren’t usually the kind of person who buys fighting games is going to depend on whether you’re going to play it multiplayer (which is always fun) and whether the Weapons Master mode is going to keep you interested long enough to justify your purchase.